Vice City and San Andreas are the only two I enjoyed enough to actually complete.

Kinda wish we'd included GTA-likes in this discussion, I've found myself enjoying a lot of them more than the actual GTA games.

Mafia, especially the first one, was light years ahead of any GTA I played. The first one was a very good game even outside of that comparison.

Thanks hamster. I actually not big on having a deep or interesting plot. To me, the primary appeal of a game is whether I am able to ease through it as I really can't be bothered with games that offer a steep learning curve or are too much of a challenge. That's why I was put off after reading brejas post.

I'll give it a shot in the next few weeks and let you know how I get on. Good thread btw :)

Marketing research or not:

For some reason I like the atmosphere of the first GTA3 the best, even though it was a more generic gangster setting. Maybe it was because of that, but I think I also liked its radio stations the best...?

Second is GTA San Andreas, third GTA Vice City. I guess VC dropped to the third place as I never really cared for Miami Vice (the TV series) that much, I never figured out why it was so popular back in the 80s. Pretentious bs that took itself too seriously. Hill Street Blues was always more to my liking.

I haven't played any GTA games beyond SA yet, even though I have them (not GTA V, but everything else I think).

Then you should love Vice City, it's nothing like Miami Vice. It's pretty much the exact opposite- it's badly written, mostly poorly acted, has no idea how to effectively tell a story, the characters have the emotional depth of a spork, and it desperately (and unsuccesfully) tries to be funny.

1. Last I checked, all of the Grand Theft Auto console/PC titles (and most, if not all, of the handheld ones) since GTA 3 were 3D, in that you moved around in three-dimensional environments. If you meant "PS2-era", you should've said that. I can see why people would start bringing the PS3-era games into the discussion, as those feature the same basic 3-dimensional gameplay, just with some differences in mechanics and controls, plus much-improved graphics.
2. Not sure if you were joking about the rep, but begging for rep is a sure-fire way to get down-repped sooner or later. Just be cool, be helpful, be funny, be nice; don't be a dick, a scammer, a spammer, or a pirate; and participate regularly in the forums, and rep will come to you. =)

ON-TOPIC: Of the four titles of the stipulated era that I've played (never got Vice City Stories, alas), My favorite is definitely San Andreas. I put hundreds of hours (quite possibly more than a thousand) into that one over the years, and still enjoy fucking around in it from time to time. It's got shitloads to see, and (unlike previous games) quite a lot to do, as well.

Second place goes to Vice City for its gameplay and -- although I'm not generally a fan of stereotypical " '80s music" -- its soundtrack, which I would call the best of these four (though San Andreas' soundtrack is decent.) The thing I didn't care for here was the "Scarface-by-way-of-Miami Vice" setting itself.

I prefer the setting of Grand Theft Auto III and its prequel, Liberty City Stories, to that of Vice City in a lot of ways, but I have to admit that, as a gritty, New York City-esque setting, the Liberty City of those games feels a bit...off. (I must admit, Vice City nailed the target vibe of "seedy pastel 1980s Miami", though it wasn't a vibe I cared much for.) LCS rates higher than GTA3 in the "stuff to do" department, but it's also kind of janky in some ways, such as with the needlessly awkward manual aiming controls. Of the two, GTA 3 is the more solid game overall, I'd say.

...because obviously the original GTA is far far far far superior to any of the subsequent games.

Vice City is the only GTA game, and it's ok. The rest meh.

GTA 3 gets my vote. Yes, the later games did improve the gameplay, but I feel that GTA 3 has the better writing and far better atmosphere. It's got an underrated soundtrack too.

GTA Vice City is definitely fun but probably the best thing about it is the soundtrack.

GTA San Andreas would get my vote but...oh excuse me, I'm having trouble typing because I haven't eaten within an hour so my muscles are rapidly eating themselves. Let me go to the nearest Burger Shot. Great, oh wait, my muscles are now rapidly self destructing because I haven't worked out in the last hour. That tacked on RPG stuff was interesting at first but ended up doing nothing but annoying me.

I like GTA3 for its comic book style of art and not taking itself seriously, unlike later entries with prettier but uninteresting graphics and faux epic stories. Problems that many AAA games have.

Thanks for the advice mate. I'll remove the rep-begging line, you're right. :)

Really? I actually enjoyed the RPG elements in San Andreas... so many other awesome features were added, such as swimming and diving, strafing while shooting, a shitload of badass weapons, great missions, great characters, the burglar side-mission, stealth, crouching, rolling, traveling while crouched, nitro, car customization, dating girlfriends, jetpack, and way more I couldn't list here. The only things I didn't like about SA or I felt were missed were: the annoying tags, oysters, horseshoes, the fact that they removed the M60 weapon (returns in LCS), and the slow swimming speed (I believe it was increased in VCS). And those are all minor details, so really SA is a masterpiece. In fact, if you think about it, most modern open-world games take influence from SA. Modern open-world games all have RPG elements, moving while shooting, vehicles to move around the world, and huge worlds to actually explore. SA was the first GTA game to have a lot of firsts... So there you have it.